Chereads / BlackMage / Chapter 23 - The strongest fool

Chapter 23 - The strongest fool

Thunder resounded in the core of every person present. A black pillar of electricity rose to the sky, marking the impact of Zain's attack. Everyone who had complained about the two earlier was now silent as they watched on. No one could say anything. The fight was so fast paced everyone could barely keep up. The only ones who knew exactly what was going on were the two mages in the center of it all. But even though not everyone could see the fight in its full capacity, it was still a sight to behold.

Zain threw everything in his attack, leaving his arm buried deep into the earth. Combining both his physical strength along with his magical strength, it was an attack that delivered on both fronts.

'So why…how…?!' How was it that Chron dodged yet again? In the split second before impact, his entire body vanished from Zain's line of sight, almost as if he wasn't there at all. Was the person he was fighting simply a ghost? Is all of this simply a fever dream?

"You truly are powerful. In brute strength not that many people can match you I bet."

Zain's doubt's however were quickly removed from his mind as he heard the snarky comeback of his old friend. He stood out of harm's way across the arena with his worry free smile. Chron scratched the back of his head and even laughed a little.

"You're taking this so seriously, yet here I am just moving out the way. I almost feel bad.." Chron gave an apologetic gesture before walking over to Zain.

"Even I can tell that you want nothing more than to fight. Sorry for acting the way I was up until now…it's just that I'm used to people going down pretty quickly against me. You're one of the first to ever keep going for this long. So, as an apology…"

Chron waited until Zain had removed his arm from the ground before stopping a good length away from him. Chron slowly raised his leg halfway off the ground before strengthening it with magic.

"...I'll get a little bit serious." With a golden light Chron's leg shone brilliantly before crashing into the earth below him. Webs of cracked earth shot out instantly as the entire arena was destroyed in a single motion. Zain's footing was robbed from him as the ground threw him into the sky. Zain was taken aback by the might of Chron's kick but couldn't stay shocked for long as he saw the next attack coming.

"You're strong, so you should be able to handle this." One of the flying debris rose in front of Chron. His hand reached out as a golden hue surrounded the inanimate object.

"Accelerate." And with blinding speed it flew towards Zain.

'I can't dodge this!' With his body suspended in the air he couldn't avoid the oncoming object. None of his spells would be able to destroy the large object coming at him with frightening speed in time either, so Zain reinforced his entire body with mana, greatly bolstering his defenses before taking the attack head on.

A sickening crack was heard as the boulder came into contact with Zain before breaking apart. The bands on his forearms turned from gray to a bright orange, indicating they had taken damage. Dust littered the air as chunks fell, only to reveal Zain had survived the blow. Chron smiled down below before sending more boulders Zain's way.

'I have to get my footing back!' Desperate to stop the onslaught of rocks coming his way, Zain summoned his whip and sent out a rush of attacks. The rocks were cut in half as they started approaching him before harmlessly flying past him. It took a few attempts before he finally cut a boulder in a way that let him place his feet on solid ground.

As the soles of his shoes touched the cut earth, Zain dashed to meet Chron head on as the distance between the two vanished in mere moments. His shoulder flexed as strength swelled within Zain's muscles. And with all the confidence in the world that his attack would land, Zain threw his fist. He made contact, but not with a person. Instead his fist crushed the island Chron was perched on. Zain's eyes shot to the left as he saw Chron jumping out of the way.

"You know, with the amount of times I've dodged your attacks, you'd think you would try something different-" Chron was silenced as a bolt of lightning struck through his back, and left him stunned. Confused and with the remainder of his mobility he turned his head and noticed a black sphere floating behind him.

'A remote spell..? He managed to attack me with that? Did he slip it past me while I was throwing those rocks earlier?'

"I finally caught up to you." Anger was evident on Zain's face as he wound up another attack aimed at Chron. As the moment to end the fight was at hand, Zain's chest pounded. His cocked back fist surged to life with lightning, the chest piece that covered Chron's heart was where his sights were aimed at.

'I'm ending this now!' Zain unleashed his attack in the blink of an eye and for once in this entire fight, his fist felt solid contact. His knuckles dug deep into the protective gear from Chron.

"And as a second apology…."

Zain's eyes widened in horror as he saw past the dust and saw Chron holding off his attack with his forearms, unphased by damage dealt to him.

"I'll take a few of your attacks."

"Wha-" Words tried to leave Zain's mouth, but only a fraction of what he wanted to say came forth. All the air left his body as a heavy punch landed in his gut, and a powerful kick landed on his back and sent him to the ground.

"That's the match!" Clive exclaimed from the stands as Zain fully landed on the ground. The back of his protective gear was a bright red indicating the damage that accumulated.

The room quickly fell silent after the battle ended. Clive stepped forward and began using his earth magic to reconstruct the destroyed arena.

"You really are strong. To think you managed to cast a spell in my blind spot and attack me with it. That's the first time someone has managed to do that." Chron smiled widely, as if the fight they just had, never happened. And while Zain struggled to get off the ground, Chron continued to walk closer to him.

"You really are interesting. I never knew you could use lightning magic like that." As he noticed Zain struggling, Chron held out his hand.

"I've taken an interest in yo-"

Smack!

Chron's hand was slapped to the side as Zain finally stood on his own.

"I don't need your help…" Before Chron could get another word in, Zain was already limping off into the changing room. As he left, the silent students in the stands started to throw jeers at him after seeing his disrespect to Chron. With his walk of shame finished Zain entered the changing room before slamming his fist into a nearby locker.

"...Don't look at me with those eyes…don't speak to me with that voice..!" His fist clenched even tighter as he glared at his own reflection. "The Chron I once knew is dead…and in his place is you. A fool who knows nothing of danger, and takes everything as a joke."

A heavy sigh left the man as he finally calmed down.

"I need to stay away from him…I feel like I'll lose all my rationality the longer I deal with his antics."

This was for the best. This Chron obviously wouldn't make much of a training partner if all he did was make light of the spar they were in. This attitude would obviously continue until something life changing happened to him to straighten him out.

Another huff of air left Zain as he wiped the sweat off his forehead and left the arena.

"God, this room feels stuffy…"